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28 January 2013

on the Necessity to Preserve Landscape

LG and the intrusion of gray amongst green

If you've ever visited the Cloisters way up in the tippy-top of Manhattan island, you may see something nearly foreign to urban areas: trees! and grass and plants and lots and lots of green. Unless you live in a yurt in the middle of Central Park, you typically aren't hidden away from towering buildings imposed against a backdrop of more towering buildings.

Additionally at the Cloisters, you may notice an abundance of green vegetation across the flowing sludge we like to call the Hudson River. Across the river is Englewood, New Jersey, home to a whole ton of rich people and the future home of LG Electronic's new 143-foot corporate tower! For those of you who have a sense of height and measurement, this new building will not be shadowed by 144-foot tall trees (not that it would even be under its shadow). Rather, the green will be shadowed by a tall silver and gray stalk. And you'll be able to see it from the Cloisters!

For those of you who are vaguely unaware of what the big deal is, here's the gist: A super rich guy named John D. Rockefeller funded the creation of a medieval-art museum that is made up of French cloisters (taken apart and shipped from France) in wonderful New York. He bought the surrounding four acres of land then gave this fully-stocked conglomerate of cloisters to the Met(ropolitan Museum of Art). He also bought an acre of land across the river (what!) to ensure that throughout the passing of time, museum-goers would be able to experience the Cloisters just as it had been in 1930s. So basically, JDR wanted to create a 360-degree experience that wouldn't be interrupted by tall gray stalks across the water. But now it will be!

Naturally, people are really angry, New Yorkers especially (you know how we can get enraged very passionately and make a stand against something without consideration of others' olfactory nerves). The big question is whether or not LG will do something about it. At this point, it's probably nearly impossible for anything to be changed despite the attention the story is receiving. In the meantime, you should get your butt on the A and enjoy an uninterrupted landscape while you still can.

On a slightly different note, please enjoy this humorous comment that aptly illustrates this situation: